`NEW ROSE HOTEL' TOO CONVOLUTED TO COMPREHEND.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

In the cyber-literature world, reality is often splintered and murky. Translating it to the screen is a tricky proposition at best. A filmmaker has to have a firm grip on his material or else you get ``New Rose Hotel,'' a meandering, opaque thriller with stabs at eroticism that become unexciting soft-core porn and arty camera work that adds up to nothing.

That Abel Ferrara (``Bad Lieutenant'') directed it, might give you pause to believe there is more here than meets the eye, but don't be sucked into this half-dreamy mess. Based on a short story by Mr. Cyberspace himself, William Gibson, ``Rose'' revolves around high-stakes corporate intrigue.

Willem Dafoe plays X, who is recruited by his friend Fox (Christopher Walken) to help him get a Japanese scientist, Hiroshi (Yoshitaka Amano), to defect from a German firm and come to work for a Japanese company. Hiroshi is considered a revolutionary biologist whose patents would transform the world and be worth billions of dollars to his employer.

Fox and X devise a honey trap - as it is known in the espionage world - and recruit a mysterious prostitute named Sandi (Asia Argento).

X, as it turns out, is sleeping with her and - surprise - falls for her. Fox persuades her to seduce Hiroshi by telling her it's her ``ticket out of the boneyard. You're dead - you just don't know it.'' Fox likes to talk in cliches, actually telling a Japanese executive at one point ``don't worry, be happy.''

Of course, thing go awry and Ferrara spends nearly the last third of the film playing with this in flashbacks - not that we care. By then the film's listless pacing and pretentions have anesthetized you. In the press notes, the co-screenwriter Christ Zois says that for him, ``ambiguity'' was the key to the story. Well, he got that right. ``New Rose Hotel'' is like a fitful dream after too much to drink.

THE FACTS

The film: ``New Rose Hotel'' (R; includes profanity, nudity, sex, violence and decadent situations).

The stars: Willem Dafoe, Christopher Walken, Asia Argento.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Abel Ferrara. Written by Ferrara and Christ Zois, based on the short story by William Gibson. Released by Avalanche Releasing.

Running time: One hour, 33 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood.

Our rating: One and one half stars.